Sunday 12 February 2017

Laguna Quilotoa

Saturday morning we were up at 6am to get ready for a day trip to Laguna Quilotoa. Laguan Quilotoa is 3800m above sea level (Quito  is 2800m) and is a part of the Ecological Reserve "The Ilinizas." The water of the volcanic-cratere lake is a stunning emerald green colour and the whole area is so peaceful. Scientifically, the lake is 250m deep however many of the locals believe it has no bottom.


We left at about 7am and arrived at around 10am - a rather long drive to say the least. The view was definitely worth the early start and long drive though! From the top looking down the lake appeared a yellowy, greeny colour and as the clouds moved in it became more of a deep green.



Our guide told us a few things about the lake and we took some group pictures before beginning the steep, windy and dusty descent to the lake 400m below. Thankfully, I managed to avoid falling flat on my bum but there were certainly a few near misses and I did go for a slide a couple of times.


It took about 40 minutes to reach the bottom with a few photo stops along the way. At the bottom there was the classic 'swing' which cost $2 and although seemingly a little wobbly it was generally quite safe and made for some awesome photos! At the bottom you could also kayak out onto the lake which cost $3.50 for 25 minutes. I did not choose to do this but apparently it was beautiful and the water was incredibly cold!



After eating our lunch and taking in the view we began the arduous journey back up the crater. This took us about 2 hours and was incredibly tiring, especially since we were up another 1000m in altitude from Quito. When we reached the top again the temperature had dropped signifcantly and all the layers we had taken off during the taxing ascent were put back on.

Overall, it was a beautiful experience and definitely worth the long journey to get there and the steep walk to the bottom and back. We arrived back around 6pm extremely shattered and had an early night and a sleep in on Sunday.

Hope everyone is well.
Georgia xx

No comments:

Post a Comment